Yes, we all laughed at John Boehner yelling "Hell, no!" on the House floor after Obama's win. And then there was the fiasco after the 2012 republican loss wherein they all stood in a circle and jerked off to the tune of, "We have to figure out how to say the same thing, but make it sound different." You know that tune. Just like Tim Scott's voting record, the republicans have gotten away with blocking and stalling any Democratic program that might succeed.
But wait. Last week heralded a new day for bipartisanship, as Congress passed the bill that would "permanently" fix the threat of doctors refusing to accept Medicare due to lower rates of reimbursement. Jon Stewart mocked the national moment of joy expressed at Congress at last getting together to do their job.
I am wondering, on the other hand, what we gave up in order to get those fools to agree. Because what has been happening in Congress lately is a series of compromises that make the republicans look like real leaders while our Democratic goals and programs are being eroded.
Take the Human Trafficking Victims' Fund that just passed the Senate with 99 votes. In March, this bill got bollixed up because the creeps in the republican party tied it to an anti-abortion amendment. Fortunately somebody woke up and read the bill, and the media attention killed that sleazy plan. Or so we thought.
These days, it seems that everybody wants to stop human trafficking, although it seems to me that this has become a term that can mean anything to anybody, and I doubt that the republican supporters are really planning on helping Mexicans who have been abused by coyotes after paying their way into the country. But whatever we think it is, fighting human trafficking is so hot that a bill was even passed into law and signed by Governor Haley in South Carolina on April 2 of this year.
In the Senate, the compromise over which everyone is taking bows, involves splitting funds in a way that in no way no how can money for "health services" be spent on abortions. Never let it be said that a Democrat would be unwilling to compromise when it comes to a woman's right to have an abortion. Been abused? Raped? Coerced? Have some "health services" sans abortion.
And then there is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which could be subtitled "a million ways to die at the hands of the republican congress." The plan seems to be that the more Senator Elizabeth Warren works to increase protections from big banks and their hi-jinx, the more creative become the wordsmiths in the republican party, assisted of course by Wall Street, ALEC, and all those other helpful denizens of the one percent. So as Warren calls for more regulation and demands for accountability, the House has passed a bill which would require additional advisory boards (including what they call "small business") and to offset the cost of these boards, has PUT CAPS ON FUTURE FUNDING OF THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU.
So thanks, Ronald Reagan, your plan to strangle government continues to thrive.
All I am saying is, this new era of "bipartisan politics" that has dawned in Washington is Democrats being roped in and hornswoggled. If you want to know what is really going on, follow the comments of those who are opposing all these great moments in unity: Bernie Sanders, Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren. Now is the time to find the truth-tellers on the left, and not those who are either so naive or so concerned with being re-elected that they will compromise away the things we have fought for, like financial reform and women's rights. When you see a 99-0 vote, ask yourself what we've lost, because the chances are pretty darned good that we have.
Showing posts with label ALEC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ALEC. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Tim Scott's Anti-Environmental Agenda
Hooray for Tim Scott! Once again, he has received an award -- and just in time for the upcoming election -- for his service to, well, to the wealthy and powerful. In Newspeak, it is called, The Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence. With emphasis on the word "legislative" of course. What it means is that our Tim has worked hardest of all hard-bought legislators to make laws that protect big business.
You might not be surprised to learn that the National Association of Manufacturers is associated with our friends the Koch brothers. Their agenda is also not much of a surprise: they are anti-environmental regulation and have fought efforts by the government to control greenhouse gas emission. Most recently, they lobbied to exempt certain external power supplies from complying with federal energy standards in February of 2014. Yeah, Tim!
It's been a bit like word-puzzle fun to get an email from Tim about an award and trying to figure out what it really means, but not that much of a challenge. As usual, Tim doesn't ever break new ground. He pretty much does what all those fancy corporate lobbying groups tell him to do.
But I am tired of our state being held hostage by ALEC and the Kochs. Our workers are underpaid and there are too many unemployed (latest figures show the numbers creeping up in spite of the nation's continued downward trend). We sacrifice improving schools and roads and bridges so we can cut taxes on big corporations who are willing to do business in South Carolina if we treat them real good. Too many in South Carolina are needlessly uninsured and suffer poor nutrition because Tim continues to vote against programs that would give his constituents a fighting chance.
Tim Scott and his buddy Nikki Haley have gotten pretty tiresome. Their press releases are lies that cover up their true alliances as we continue to hold down the bottom rungs of any measure of education, health, public safety.
This is why we need to talk up the November 4 election. Lots of our friends and family don't know it's coming up, and too many don't think it is important. With only two more years of the Obama administration we need to give him a Congress that will support his environmental, health care, and immigration initiatives. We need to give him a Congress that does not force him to compromise on programs that will truly move us forward.
Joyce Dickerson is a woman who will accomplish that in the US Senate. She has been fighting to be heard over all the cash that is flowing on the other side, and she needs our help to let others know who she is. She is the candidate that will work for better health care, better education, better services for seniors and veterans. She will fight so that we all can earn a living wage, and so that women have the same rights as men. She will protect our rights to privacy and a safe and healthy environment.
So please, spread the word. The time is getting short and this election is too important to skip out on. Use Facebook and Twitter, send out emails, call your friends and family and talk to your co-workers. Tell them how Tim Scott's votes have kept them from improving their lives and those of their family. Let's not let the phony awards get in the way of the truth.
You might not be surprised to learn that the National Association of Manufacturers is associated with our friends the Koch brothers. Their agenda is also not much of a surprise: they are anti-environmental regulation and have fought efforts by the government to control greenhouse gas emission. Most recently, they lobbied to exempt certain external power supplies from complying with federal energy standards in February of 2014. Yeah, Tim!
It's been a bit like word-puzzle fun to get an email from Tim about an award and trying to figure out what it really means, but not that much of a challenge. As usual, Tim doesn't ever break new ground. He pretty much does what all those fancy corporate lobbying groups tell him to do.
But I am tired of our state being held hostage by ALEC and the Kochs. Our workers are underpaid and there are too many unemployed (latest figures show the numbers creeping up in spite of the nation's continued downward trend). We sacrifice improving schools and roads and bridges so we can cut taxes on big corporations who are willing to do business in South Carolina if we treat them real good. Too many in South Carolina are needlessly uninsured and suffer poor nutrition because Tim continues to vote against programs that would give his constituents a fighting chance.
Tim Scott and his buddy Nikki Haley have gotten pretty tiresome. Their press releases are lies that cover up their true alliances as we continue to hold down the bottom rungs of any measure of education, health, public safety.
This is why we need to talk up the November 4 election. Lots of our friends and family don't know it's coming up, and too many don't think it is important. With only two more years of the Obama administration we need to give him a Congress that will support his environmental, health care, and immigration initiatives. We need to give him a Congress that does not force him to compromise on programs that will truly move us forward.
Joyce Dickerson is a woman who will accomplish that in the US Senate. She has been fighting to be heard over all the cash that is flowing on the other side, and she needs our help to let others know who she is. She is the candidate that will work for better health care, better education, better services for seniors and veterans. She will fight so that we all can earn a living wage, and so that women have the same rights as men. She will protect our rights to privacy and a safe and healthy environment.
So please, spread the word. The time is getting short and this election is too important to skip out on. Use Facebook and Twitter, send out emails, call your friends and family and talk to your co-workers. Tell them how Tim Scott's votes have kept them from improving their lives and those of their family. Let's not let the phony awards get in the way of the truth.
Joyce Dickerson
for US Senate
November 4
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Getting Away with Lies
Yesterday, the Post & Courier had an opinion piece by Dave Schwartz. You may not know him; he doesn't even have a wikipedia page. But this is just the way his employer, David Koch, of the Americans for Prosperity, likes it. Anonymity allowed him and his brother, the other Koch, to get away with years of control of our legislators, until investigative journalists like Rachel Maddow forced them out of the shadows.
So we have this new guy who comes into town and spreads lies about bad government and good corporations, bad taxes and good job creators, and then moves on. He has been State Director for AFP in Maryland, then Virginia, and now South Carolina.
The opinion piece in the Post and Courier is an example of the dirtiest of dirty work, full of blatant and absurd lies, like calling the American Legislative Exchange Council "non-partisan." He argues, predictably, that it is our high state taxes that is the cause of all our ills. If only we had low taxes like Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, we would have -- that's right -- job growth and prosperity. And he sites that other "non-partisan" group, the Civitas Institute, for research that states that SC has the highest tax rate and the "lowest take-home pay in the region." The Civitas Institute, for those of you who aren't aware, is that North Carolina group of right wing-nuts who, despite Schwartz claim that they are non-partisan, describes themselves as "North Carolina's conservative voice." A voice that is funded by Art Pope, who as NC budget director engineered the cutbacks that have devastated North Carolina in recent years. He has just resigned; we might want to keep an eye on him to see where he will be going to spread his dysentery next.
Anyway, to get back to Dave Schwartz and the Post & Courier. He has made claims in that piece that are totally fabricated, made to scare and anger readers. We know he is disseminating lies. We know that our governor bribes businesses to our state with tax giveaways, that our education system suffers as a result, that too many of our workers are not paid a living wage. We know that the reason our economic growth in SC is lower than much of the rest of the country is that our yahoos in the legislature and our governor are wasting our resources working to cut services to the poor, deny voting rights to seniors and minorities, and ensure that workers are not allowed to fight for a living wage. We also know that big corporations are favored over small businesses, and that because the wealthy who profit in our state are not made to contribute, our education, health care and infrastructure resembles that of a third world country, where the lines are clearly drawn between the rich and the poor, and those in the shrinking middle struggle every day to access the American dream.
We should not allow Dave Schwartz and other Koch and Pope minions to get away with disseminating lies without fear of contradiction. When we see an article online, let's quickly comment. Let's write letters to the editor pointing out the fallacies and distortions, and correcting the misinformation. Let's not complain among ourselves, or ignore these outrages. They will not go away. They will invade and erode, so that truth becomes fiction. They snuck into North Carolina like body snatchers and left its government wasted and its people devastated.
It is hard to believe that we have elections coming up in a few months. Interest has been pretty lackadaisical, considering all we have at stake. Our Democratic politicians and candidates aren't screaming loud enough, they aren't showing enough outrage. Shouldn't one of those candidates be writing an Op Ed in the Post and Courier denouncing Dave Schwartz's ridiculous claims?
Somebody, anybody, everybody, please, speak out. And let's start with the fact that he is misrepresenting who he is and what his organizations stand for.
So we have this new guy who comes into town and spreads lies about bad government and good corporations, bad taxes and good job creators, and then moves on. He has been State Director for AFP in Maryland, then Virginia, and now South Carolina.
The opinion piece in the Post and Courier is an example of the dirtiest of dirty work, full of blatant and absurd lies, like calling the American Legislative Exchange Council "non-partisan." He argues, predictably, that it is our high state taxes that is the cause of all our ills. If only we had low taxes like Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, we would have -- that's right -- job growth and prosperity. And he sites that other "non-partisan" group, the Civitas Institute, for research that states that SC has the highest tax rate and the "lowest take-home pay in the region." The Civitas Institute, for those of you who aren't aware, is that North Carolina group of right wing-nuts who, despite Schwartz claim that they are non-partisan, describes themselves as "North Carolina's conservative voice." A voice that is funded by Art Pope, who as NC budget director engineered the cutbacks that have devastated North Carolina in recent years. He has just resigned; we might want to keep an eye on him to see where he will be going to spread his dysentery next.
Anyway, to get back to Dave Schwartz and the Post & Courier. He has made claims in that piece that are totally fabricated, made to scare and anger readers. We know he is disseminating lies. We know that our governor bribes businesses to our state with tax giveaways, that our education system suffers as a result, that too many of our workers are not paid a living wage. We know that the reason our economic growth in SC is lower than much of the rest of the country is that our yahoos in the legislature and our governor are wasting our resources working to cut services to the poor, deny voting rights to seniors and minorities, and ensure that workers are not allowed to fight for a living wage. We also know that big corporations are favored over small businesses, and that because the wealthy who profit in our state are not made to contribute, our education, health care and infrastructure resembles that of a third world country, where the lines are clearly drawn between the rich and the poor, and those in the shrinking middle struggle every day to access the American dream.
We should not allow Dave Schwartz and other Koch and Pope minions to get away with disseminating lies without fear of contradiction. When we see an article online, let's quickly comment. Let's write letters to the editor pointing out the fallacies and distortions, and correcting the misinformation. Let's not complain among ourselves, or ignore these outrages. They will not go away. They will invade and erode, so that truth becomes fiction. They snuck into North Carolina like body snatchers and left its government wasted and its people devastated.
It is hard to believe that we have elections coming up in a few months. Interest has been pretty lackadaisical, considering all we have at stake. Our Democratic politicians and candidates aren't screaming loud enough, they aren't showing enough outrage. Shouldn't one of those candidates be writing an Op Ed in the Post and Courier denouncing Dave Schwartz's ridiculous claims?
Somebody, anybody, everybody, please, speak out. And let's start with the fact that he is misrepresenting who he is and what his organizations stand for.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Bullies with Guns
I don't like going to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. I don't like having my handbag searched. It seems that over the years they have evolved their search policy, and that it has become ever more ridiculous.
After 9/11, and with the certainty that the next attack would be on the Arts in Charleston, the search was for guns. A few years ago, I learned that they were now searching for cameras. Management explained that it was part of their contract with the theater company that was performing. Hmm, I thought, I wonder what would happen if the New York stage began to demand confiscation of cameras from their audiences....
This year, with no other option than to submit myself to a search in order to see Arlo Guthrie, I ruminated for weeks over whether they still confiscated cameras, and did that mean that they also took away smart phones? I never for one second entertained the possibility that they would have done away with the searches.
When I was approached at the door for the search and I asked what they were looking for, I was directed to a quite large poster board that was standing by the door, where some dozen articles of search were listed. Dumbfounded, and having lived in Charleston long enough not to want to make a fuss, I glanced at the list, noted that it included something about water bottles and, farther down, two-year-olds, stuck out my large purse and submitted to a cursory search and walked away.
Later I did go read the sign. Topmost was no food or beverages. Yes they can look in your pocketbook and confiscate a bag of M & M's. Farther down on the list, somewhere around number 5, was something like: No bottles, cans or weapons. And no, the two-year-olds were not confiscated, they just had to have a ticket. And they could not be in your purse. Although now that I think about it, I guess they could search your purse for your two-year-old's ticket. And guns was hidden behind bottles and cans, and within the word "weapons."
So as I waited for the concert, I continued to fume about the unquestioned right of a theater to search my personal property. This led to thoughts about the recently passed South Carolina law allowing guns in bars and restaurants. As amazing as the fact that the response to gun violence was not just to allow more guns to be sold, was that our legislators had now given express permission for them to be carried in the most volatile scenario, that where there is alcohol.
What was circling my mind, though, was the compromise that the usually more level-headed legislators reached. If a bar or restaurant owner did not want guns in their establishment, they could post a sign. That sign had to follow precise rules regarding wording and font size, exactly what walls and how high it needed to be posted, AND include a precise picture of a gun, all spelled out in Section 23-31-235. In other words, the law had more restrictions on the signage than on the weapons.
There is a lot of hot air about how the federal government infringes on the rights of business owners in South Carolina. And yet our legislators were happy to accept such detailed rules regarding being able to refuse to serve people carrying guns. And considered it a victory in the gun control fight.
It initially shocked me that two groups were not coming out in loud opposition to the law: police officers and bar/restaurant owners. But when I saw the sign at the Performing Arts Center in which the prohibition against guns was hidden under "bottles, cans or weapons," it suddenly made sense.
We are all being held hostage by the bullies with guns. We need to tread carefully around them, because to enrage them may not be fatal (although it might) but would certainly make it harder for us to go about our business. In the case of bar and restaurant owners, their association would not want to alienate this powerful group, because retribution by A.L.E.C. and the NRA, both of whom control our legislators, would be swift and painful. Police groups would also face retaliation in the form of budget and jobs. Those who post those precisely drawn signs risk the wrath of any gun bullies that may have patronized their business as well as many who do not.
And gun bullies are not afraid to rage against those that question their unfettered right to bear arms, because, after all, they are the ones with the guns.
After 9/11, and with the certainty that the next attack would be on the Arts in Charleston, the search was for guns. A few years ago, I learned that they were now searching for cameras. Management explained that it was part of their contract with the theater company that was performing. Hmm, I thought, I wonder what would happen if the New York stage began to demand confiscation of cameras from their audiences....
This year, with no other option than to submit myself to a search in order to see Arlo Guthrie, I ruminated for weeks over whether they still confiscated cameras, and did that mean that they also took away smart phones? I never for one second entertained the possibility that they would have done away with the searches.
When I was approached at the door for the search and I asked what they were looking for, I was directed to a quite large poster board that was standing by the door, where some dozen articles of search were listed. Dumbfounded, and having lived in Charleston long enough not to want to make a fuss, I glanced at the list, noted that it included something about water bottles and, farther down, two-year-olds, stuck out my large purse and submitted to a cursory search and walked away.
Later I did go read the sign. Topmost was no food or beverages. Yes they can look in your pocketbook and confiscate a bag of M & M's. Farther down on the list, somewhere around number 5, was something like: No bottles, cans or weapons. And no, the two-year-olds were not confiscated, they just had to have a ticket. And they could not be in your purse. Although now that I think about it, I guess they could search your purse for your two-year-old's ticket. And guns was hidden behind bottles and cans, and within the word "weapons."
So as I waited for the concert, I continued to fume about the unquestioned right of a theater to search my personal property. This led to thoughts about the recently passed South Carolina law allowing guns in bars and restaurants. As amazing as the fact that the response to gun violence was not just to allow more guns to be sold, was that our legislators had now given express permission for them to be carried in the most volatile scenario, that where there is alcohol.
What was circling my mind, though, was the compromise that the usually more level-headed legislators reached. If a bar or restaurant owner did not want guns in their establishment, they could post a sign. That sign had to follow precise rules regarding wording and font size, exactly what walls and how high it needed to be posted, AND include a precise picture of a gun, all spelled out in Section 23-31-235. In other words, the law had more restrictions on the signage than on the weapons.
There is a lot of hot air about how the federal government infringes on the rights of business owners in South Carolina. And yet our legislators were happy to accept such detailed rules regarding being able to refuse to serve people carrying guns. And considered it a victory in the gun control fight.
It initially shocked me that two groups were not coming out in loud opposition to the law: police officers and bar/restaurant owners. But when I saw the sign at the Performing Arts Center in which the prohibition against guns was hidden under "bottles, cans or weapons," it suddenly made sense.
We are all being held hostage by the bullies with guns. We need to tread carefully around them, because to enrage them may not be fatal (although it might) but would certainly make it harder for us to go about our business. In the case of bar and restaurant owners, their association would not want to alienate this powerful group, because retribution by A.L.E.C. and the NRA, both of whom control our legislators, would be swift and painful. Police groups would also face retaliation in the form of budget and jobs. Those who post those precisely drawn signs risk the wrath of any gun bullies that may have patronized their business as well as many who do not.
And gun bullies are not afraid to rage against those that question their unfettered right to bear arms, because, after all, they are the ones with the guns.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
The Problem with the Debate
On Tuesday, the Post and Courier published a letter I wrote about the Trayvon Martin killing ("Blaming Victim"). Friday, I received a multi-page response in the mail. To say that the respondent put a great deal of effort into the rebuttal would be an understatement. This dude, named "T.B.S.", gathered up all the colored pens he owns and appears to have spent hours composing this reply:
Apparently, I touched a nerve.
So I spent a bit of time considering how I might respond, if I was similarly crazed, and came up with a few tantalizing possibilities:
* I'm so glad that you read my letter in the P & C. It must have been very difficult.
* And your point is...?
* I found your letter quite well thought out, especially the colors.
* Well, you've certainly convinced me!
Chuckles aside, I think what we have here is the whole problem with the gun control debate. The people who most fervently believe they have the right -- in fact, the need -- to carry weapons, are those like Mr. T. B. S. who, apart from the fact that he apparently is not at all hispanic, shares much the same paranoia and rage as Mr. Zimmerman.
The NRA and ALEC need a frightened population in order to thrive. They pay our gun-rights politicians substantial amounts of money to fire up the fearful. And what we end up with is crazy people who are truly afraid that if we take away their guns they will be overrun by "those people." The people they are afraid of range from the gub'mint to the NAACP to the A-rabs to Nancy Pelosi.
In other words, they are afraid of anyone our right wing legislators tell them to be afraid of.
George Zimmerman is the living proof of why we need to outlaw guns. And why we need to vote the fearmongers out of office.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Pomp and Chauvinism
Okay, I admit that I got teary watching the Inauguration. And the Battle Hymn is one hell of a song and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir gave me the chills.
Now allow me to revert back to my true nature.
I was more aware than ever today of how our country drips in the words of Christianity. Which leaves me, a non-Christian, unimpressed with the rhetoric that pretends to include the rest of us.
I do not take the Pledge of Allegiance. Have not done so for I don't know how many decades. I do not take pledges.
I am proud of the fact that I live in a country where, despite what some think, we are not forced to pledge allegiance to the flag.
Our greatest goods and our greatest evils come from the kind of chauvinism that occurs when people pledge to God and country. We need to unite to perform the greatest good, but these days, some of the groups that are most united do so in the name of power and greed for the purpose of coercion.
The National Rifle Association will have us all armed presumably to protect ourselves and our property, but in reality to increase profits and corporate power.
Anti-abortion groups have taken the great feminist Susan B. Anthony and sullied her name by forcing their cause on her. Where irony knows no bounds, the narcissistic Paul Ryan who has again co-sponsored the ever-so-ironic "sanctity of human life act" will be keynote speaker for the anti-abortion group which I just learned is called the "Susan B. Anthony List."
In the name of corporate freedom, governors and legislators from states like ours are joining forces with groups like ALEC to make certain that our workers will always work cheap, our taxes will be too low to provide good education and health care to its citizens, and the wealthy will continue to be in charge.
And every one of the people who are responsible for the damage done by their work takes the Pledge of Allegiance, proudly, publicly, and as often as the cameras will allow.
It's good that today we are inaugurating a president who fights for the people of this country. I am cynical (of course) about just how strong his allegiances are to the 98 percent vs. Wall Street and PhRMA, ExxonMobil, and the others of great wealth and privilege. I wonder if he has further entrenched the spy and war machines into our lives in the name of security rather than take the riskier path of fighting for our individual freedoms while working to keep us safe.
And yet he has fought for equal rights and equal opportunity in a way we had not seen for eight years. So for that, when he was sworn in today, I was proud and yes, even shed a tear at the pomp and pageantry, though not the chauvinism.
Now allow me to revert back to my true nature.
I was more aware than ever today of how our country drips in the words of Christianity. Which leaves me, a non-Christian, unimpressed with the rhetoric that pretends to include the rest of us.
I do not take the Pledge of Allegiance. Have not done so for I don't know how many decades. I do not take pledges.
I am proud of the fact that I live in a country where, despite what some think, we are not forced to pledge allegiance to the flag.
Our greatest goods and our greatest evils come from the kind of chauvinism that occurs when people pledge to God and country. We need to unite to perform the greatest good, but these days, some of the groups that are most united do so in the name of power and greed for the purpose of coercion.
The National Rifle Association will have us all armed presumably to protect ourselves and our property, but in reality to increase profits and corporate power.
Anti-abortion groups have taken the great feminist Susan B. Anthony and sullied her name by forcing their cause on her. Where irony knows no bounds, the narcissistic Paul Ryan who has again co-sponsored the ever-so-ironic "sanctity of human life act" will be keynote speaker for the anti-abortion group which I just learned is called the "Susan B. Anthony List."
In the name of corporate freedom, governors and legislators from states like ours are joining forces with groups like ALEC to make certain that our workers will always work cheap, our taxes will be too low to provide good education and health care to its citizens, and the wealthy will continue to be in charge.
And every one of the people who are responsible for the damage done by their work takes the Pledge of Allegiance, proudly, publicly, and as often as the cameras will allow.
It's good that today we are inaugurating a president who fights for the people of this country. I am cynical (of course) about just how strong his allegiances are to the 98 percent vs. Wall Street and PhRMA, ExxonMobil, and the others of great wealth and privilege. I wonder if he has further entrenched the spy and war machines into our lives in the name of security rather than take the riskier path of fighting for our individual freedoms while working to keep us safe.
And yet he has fought for equal rights and equal opportunity in a way we had not seen for eight years. So for that, when he was sworn in today, I was proud and yes, even shed a tear at the pomp and pageantry, though not the chauvinism.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Distractions
Our legislature here in South Carolina can't get those personhood bills out fast enough. They don't much give a damn what happens when a baby gets born, but they stay up nights wondering how they can make a woman keep that fetus under their control for as long as it takes. And then once that woman has an actual baby, they won't have to worry about keeping her under their control. All they have to do is make sure she is totally, 100% on her own.
I wish these "personhood" schemes were actually funny. But they come from unbalanced minds that believe that the word "freedom" means they get to control others, and the word "religion" means theirs. As with the gun "debate," there really is no debate. The people who believe in life at conception to the point where they obsess over making laws about it are not willing to share ideas. Nor are they ever going to share a penny to be sure that a pregnant woman has health care and a healthy diet.
Take, for example, Liston Barfield, who proudly sponsored H 3323, companion to the Senate bill S 83. To look at his background, you would not come away thinking the man had a whole lot of understanding of biology, but he does know his own religion and he does know how to network. In fact, he happens to be Secretary on the Board of Directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
If you are wondering where you have heard of ALEC, this is the powerful corporate lobbying group that has its dirty fingerprints not only all over state and federal bills, but all over our politicians. ALEC works for folks like the Koch brothers, ExxonMobile, and PhRMA, to make sure that bills get written just the way they like them.
If this sounds like a strange alliance for someone who is concerned with "personhood," it all comes under the heading of power and hypocrisy.
I'd like to be able to at least leave you with a chuckle. The "word" "preborn" should crack me up the way I used to enjoy the invented word "preowned" when car dealers started substituting it for "used." Except that "preowned" became an actual part of the vocabulary, and damned if I know what people think it means. I fear that "preborn" is just about to become another one of those invented words that scare and confuse people.
As distasteful as this whole thing is, though, I believe we need to know about all the corrupt legislators that keep our minds off our pocketbooks by keeping them focused on a woman's vagina. So maybe I started with "personhood" and ended up with ALEC. The fact that the whole way our government works is so convoluted is why it doesn't work for us at all.
I wish these "personhood" schemes were actually funny. But they come from unbalanced minds that believe that the word "freedom" means they get to control others, and the word "religion" means theirs. As with the gun "debate," there really is no debate. The people who believe in life at conception to the point where they obsess over making laws about it are not willing to share ideas. Nor are they ever going to share a penny to be sure that a pregnant woman has health care and a healthy diet.
Take, for example, Liston Barfield, who proudly sponsored H 3323, companion to the Senate bill S 83. To look at his background, you would not come away thinking the man had a whole lot of understanding of biology, but he does know his own religion and he does know how to network. In fact, he happens to be Secretary on the Board of Directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
If you are wondering where you have heard of ALEC, this is the powerful corporate lobbying group that has its dirty fingerprints not only all over state and federal bills, but all over our politicians. ALEC works for folks like the Koch brothers, ExxonMobile, and PhRMA, to make sure that bills get written just the way they like them.
If this sounds like a strange alliance for someone who is concerned with "personhood," it all comes under the heading of power and hypocrisy.
I'd like to be able to at least leave you with a chuckle. The "word" "preborn" should crack me up the way I used to enjoy the invented word "preowned" when car dealers started substituting it for "used." Except that "preowned" became an actual part of the vocabulary, and damned if I know what people think it means. I fear that "preborn" is just about to become another one of those invented words that scare and confuse people.
As distasteful as this whole thing is, though, I believe we need to know about all the corrupt legislators that keep our minds off our pocketbooks by keeping them focused on a woman's vagina. So maybe I started with "personhood" and ended up with ALEC. The fact that the whole way our government works is so convoluted is why it doesn't work for us at all.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Ducks in a Row and Ready to Fire
We are hearing a lot about Vice President Biden's gun control task force, and the President is sounding tough. But the actual fact is that the crazies are still in charge. That means the NRA and Congress, with hyped up gun and conspiracy fanatics cheering them on.
Because the wise voters of states like South Carolina have continued the tradition of voting against their own interests, we are stuck once more with a House of Representatives that represents fiscal policies that promise to stop the government. But on the law and order side, our literal gun-toting House members are determined to continue the fight against women and gun control. So our VP's plans are more to do with how to do battle with hands tied than about the dramatic changes that need to be legislated.
And don't worry about South Carolina; we continue to be in the forefront of the backwards. S 85 is the Firearms Freedom Act, and you won't be at all surprised to know that it's purpose is to do for gun control what the South Carolina Freedom of Health Care Implementation Act hopes to do for Obamacare -- kill it.
Basically, what S 85 proposes is that whatever federal laws are enacted for gun control, we don't have to obey them.
As I paid more attention to the evil workings of the SC Legislature (and I am a newbie on this front), I had to wonder if the people who come up with these laws are really as smart as all that. The answer is, are you kidding? These creepy laws come from groups like ALEC -- the American Legislative Exchange Council -- the right wing big corporation big money group that assists our legislators in drafting bills, just the way their members like them.
ALEC has gotten a bit of airtime thanks to people like Bill Moyers, but the fingerprints on the Firearms Freedom movement are those of The Tenth Amendment Center. If you like to be scared to death, visit their web site. And take a look at the progress they are making.
Because the wise voters of states like South Carolina have continued the tradition of voting against their own interests, we are stuck once more with a House of Representatives that represents fiscal policies that promise to stop the government. But on the law and order side, our literal gun-toting House members are determined to continue the fight against women and gun control. So our VP's plans are more to do with how to do battle with hands tied than about the dramatic changes that need to be legislated.
And don't worry about South Carolina; we continue to be in the forefront of the backwards. S 85 is the Firearms Freedom Act, and you won't be at all surprised to know that it's purpose is to do for gun control what the South Carolina Freedom of Health Care Implementation Act hopes to do for Obamacare -- kill it.
Basically, what S 85 proposes is that whatever federal laws are enacted for gun control, we don't have to obey them.
As I paid more attention to the evil workings of the SC Legislature (and I am a newbie on this front), I had to wonder if the people who come up with these laws are really as smart as all that. The answer is, are you kidding? These creepy laws come from groups like ALEC -- the American Legislative Exchange Council -- the right wing big corporation big money group that assists our legislators in drafting bills, just the way their members like them.
ALEC has gotten a bit of airtime thanks to people like Bill Moyers, but the fingerprints on the Firearms Freedom movement are those of The Tenth Amendment Center. If you like to be scared to death, visit their web site. And take a look at the progress they are making.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)